Any Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market update could be of lesser value without first grasping the scale of the facility. It first opened in 1988 as an outlet for vendors distributing to smaller markets throughout Beijing. Nowadays, the main market has a footprint ten times larger than the Pentagon. Moreover, it has three levels, plus two underground. By 2020, service personnel had grown to 10,000 workers, including 1,500 managers and over 4,000 tenants.
Daily Turnover at Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market
Xinfadi is the largest wholesale market in Asia. That’s because it turns over 20,000 tons of fruit, 18,000 tons of vegetables, and 1,500 tons of seafood every day. Beef, lamb and poultry also sell on the premises. Moreover, the giant market supplies 70% of Beijing’s fresh vegetables, and 80% of Beijing’s fresh food and drinks.
On June 11, 2020 city authorities reported an unexpected local COVID-19 transmission. By June 17, 2020 it had tested 356,000 people, and found 137 cases according to Science Mag. Schools and residential neighborhoods are now in lock down. Now hundreds of flights have vanished from bulletin boards. Virtually all the infections trace back to the huge Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market.
Efforts to Trace to the Origin of the Outbreak
Officials believe the first positive transmission, or a close contact received their infection at the market. This inspired a total market lock down. First, specialists tested work surfaces while authorities set up temporary facilities elsewhere.
Then they found numerous contaminated surfaces. However, Science Mag believes the first source lies elsewhere. They say genome sequencing identified a viral variant behind the outbreak. And this variant relates to strains in people returning from Europe.
Dirk Pfeiffer is a veterinary epidemiologist at the City University of Hong Kong. He believes a human brought the virus to Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market. It’s therefore anybody’s guess how the Beijing spike began. Because blaming raw meat requires proof it could harbor a virus.
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Preview Image: Courtesy Google Earth
